Villa's first game of the post-Tim Sherwood era saw the caretaker boss oversee a 2-1 Capital One Cup fourth-round defeat at Southampton.

Kevin MacDonald is a big outsider for the Aston Villa job, and while he is happy to fill the caretaker role for as long as needed, the fan favourite coach does not expect to be in charge of the team for much longer.

Asked about whether he would be interested in succeeding the departed Tim Sherwood on a permanent basis after overseeing Wednesday night’s 2-1 Capital One Cup fourth-round defeat at Southampton, the Scot told BBC WM: “I doubt I would get that opportunity, because having seen what what’s going on in the press, it sounds like they’re going down the road of speaking to two or three people.

“They’re not speaking to me, and as I said, I’ve not spoken to anyone at all about it. I’ll do the best I can do for the club and we’ll just take it from there.”

Sherwood was relieved of his duties as Villa manager less than 24 hours after Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to Swansea City, having seen a run of six straight Premier League defeats leave the club bottom of the table with just four points from 10 games.

Former Arsenal midfielder Remi Garde is now the favourite to take over, but with talks believed to be stalling over problems persuading his old Lyon backroom staff to join him in England [h/t Daily Mail], MacDonald is expected to remain in temporary charge for at least Monday night’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur.

The development coach, whose original 17-year-old association with Villa ended in June 2012 before being brought back to the club by Sherwood last February, is in his second stint as caretaker, having bridged the gap between Martin O’Neill and Gerard Houllier following the former’s sudden departure in August 2010.

The ex-Swindon Town boss won just two of his eight games in charge during that six-week spell, and while his side showed plenty of positives on Wednesday night, he was unable to improve that record at St Mary’s.

Villa looked the better side through the first-half but Maya Yoshida’s opener six minutes after the break and Graziano Pelle’s 77th-minute strike ensured that Scott Sinclair’s stoppage-time penalty was nothing more than a consolation goal, as the visitors were left to rue spurned chances.

Nevertheless, MacDonald believes that one win is all it could take to turn around their dismal run of form and does not think any potential managerial candidates will be daunted by the prospect of a relation battle given the size of the club.

“It’s definitely a big job because we’re bottom of the league,” he added. “But Aston Villa have got some good players. Aston Villa is a well-supported club, a well-run club. I think if we were to get the first win, it would be like a snowball getting bigger and bigger, and that would get us all going.

“Whoever takes over will probably have information about the players at this football club already. Managers aren’t that naïve – they don’t come in without knowing what’s going on.”

Freddie Shires

Freddie is a freelance sports writer, having recently completed an MA in Sports Journalism at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. With an especially keen interest in all things American sports-related, he has written extensively about the NFL, MLS and the U.S. national team for various sites.